Babysitter arrested after hauling 5 children in back of U-haul

ELYRIA, O.H. - Elyria police arrested two people Wednesday and issued felony charges for attempting to transport five children in the back of a U-haul truck.

Author:
Tyler Carey , WTSP

Published:
4:08 PM EDT August 3, 2017

ELYRIA, O.H. - Elyria police arrested two people Wednesday and issued felony charges for attempting to transport five children in the back of a U-haul truck.

Authorities say they were called to the Speedway station on Lorain Blvd. around 2 p.m. Wednesday after they received a report of people in the back of a U-haul. Fire and EMS arrived on scene first, and officers found that 25-year-old Jamie Adkins had been in the back of the truck with five children. 55-year-old Brian Dekam was allegedly driving the truck, with Adkins' fiance in the passenger seat.

Brian Dekam

The children were reportedly sweating from the heat in the back of the truck and had bed bugs, lice, and fleas on them. The youngest, just two years old, was later air-lifted to UH Rainbow in Cleveland due to heat exhaustion. None of the children had major injuries.

Officers say, Jamie Adkins told them that she was babysitting the children and had all left Cleveland to go to Jamie's Flea Market in Amherst. They were on their way back to Cleveland when they decided to stop for drinks at a Speedway gas station. A customer at the station, Matt Pearce, reportedly saw the children in the truck and called the police.

Adkins also told police that the children's biological mother, 29-year-old Kimberly Hull, knew about the plan to transport the children to the flea market in back of the truck and called it "fun." Adkins, who describes herself as the children's "godmother," had been in charge of the children for almost two weeks, and told police their mother has not seen them at all during that time.

Officials say Jamie Adkins and the alleged driver, Brian Dekam, were in Elyria Municipal Court Thursday facing multiple counts of endangering children, including one third degree felony charge for each. The judge set a personal bond of $13,000 for Adkins and $14,000 for Dekam. Both have been released and are scheduled to be arraigned next Thursday, August 10, at 2 p.m.

In addition to the children Adkins was in charge of, a 15-year-old was also in the back of the truck. All five children are in the custody of Cuyahoga County children services. Police say the four younger ones, whom Adkins had been watching, will be placed in foster care.